The Sherry-Netherland hotel was built in 1927 at 781 Fifth Avenue, which intersects with E.59th street, also known as Central Park South. This hotel has always played second fiddle to The Plaza, its glamour seeking cousin across the street and is little known outside native New Yorkers. It is not advertised and is barely mentioned in travel publications. It 50 rooms are individually decorated and can be viewed before booking on the Sherry-Netherland website. The hotel, was granted a 4 and a half star rating by Tripadvisor, which shows that it is not in the same league as the CPS Plaza or Ritz-Carlton, but still is a high quality hotel in an amazing location. The lobby contains panels that were salvaged from the Vanderbilt Mansion that was razed to make room for the Bergdorf Goodman department store. The intimateness of the hotel allows for personalized service that could not be enjoyed in the Waldorf-Astoria or the New York Palace, as their size could not allow.

The area that I photographed is the cultural center of Baltimore, with many of its stately townhouses, along with the Baltimore School of Art, Contemporary Museum, Maryland Historical Society and Walters Art Gallery. It is sandwiched on the north by Midtown and its townhouses and on the south by the Central Business District.

The Contemporary Museum

From the left to right: St. James Place, New Howard Hotel, Congress Hotel and Mayfair Theatre

A townhouse on W. Monument Street

The Enoch Pratt House

The Contemporary Museum from the Maryland Historical Society

A townhouse across from the Maryland Historical Society
The Winona Apartment Building

The Station North/Penn Station/Charles North area that I photographed is located on the northern side of the Jones Falls Expressway, and is the target for gentrification and redevelopment. It is seen as a gateway from Midtown Baltimore, with its stately townhouses and Charles Village/Johns Hopkins area, with its intellectual students and faculty. The area, which had been depressed by white flight and suburbanization, still has many high quality townhouses and is being designated as a art zone by the City of Baltimore. Even though, a formerly vacant block stretching from E. Lanvale street and E. Lafayette street on Calvert Street was rebuilt with modern townhouses, much work remains to be done. The area seems to be held down by the Charles Theatre, where much of the redevelopment is based around.

The Railway Express Building

The Railway Express Building is a historically-designated building that sits across from the Pennsylvania Station in Baltimore, and was used to sort mail that was shipped in by train to Baltimore. No longer used for that purpose, it has been converted into loft condominiums.

The southeast view of the Railway Express Building

A closeup of the Railway Express Building’s decoration

Mount Royal Hotel and Apartments
The Mount Royal Hotel and Apartments; which are now all condominiums, face Penn Station on Mount Royal Avenue. The taller building on the left was used as a hotel and the shorter building on the right was used as apartments until they both were converted into condominiums.

A northwest view of the Mount Royal Hotel and Apartments

Entrance to the Mount Royal Hotel building

Mount Royal Apartment Building

Another view of the Mount Royal Apartment Building

The Chesapeake Restaurant
The Chesapeake Restaurant, located in a converted block of 4 (or 5) rowhouses was considered one of the best restaurants to dine in Baltimore. The restaurant was established in 1935 and was considered along with Haussner’s, Miller Brothers, Marconi’s and Tio Pepes as one of Baltimore’s best restaurants. . It closed in 1983, and was briefly reopened in 1986, but closed quickly after that.

This beautiful stained glass doorway was located on a rowhouse on E. Lanvale Street between St. Paul street and Hargrove Alley.

These townhouses are located on St. Paul’s street and Lanvale Street

Station North townhouses
The 32 Station North townhouses that are located on Calvert Street between Lanvale street and E. Lafayette street, are a bet on the revival of the Charles North/Station North neighborhood, they ranged from $378,000 to $502,000; however few sold. Prices were reduced to around $290,000 to attract more homebuyers.

The Garage
The Garage in Baltimore is a building that is currently being used by the University of Baltimore, but existed previously as a car dealership as this area used to be occupied by many. The building style looks fairly new, but it dates from the 1920/30’s.

The Tower Building

Looking west down Mount Royal Avenue

Looking down Charles Street
The Charles Theatre
The Charles Theatre is a movie theatre that shows mostly independent and art movies, but also shows movies that are considered high-quality and does research before selecting a movie to show.

The Charles Theatre

This block across from the Charles Theatre houses the Club Charles, Zodiac and a vintage diner.

The Walbert Building

The University of Baltimore

The Pennsylvania Station

The 51-foot aluminum statue by Jonathan Borofsky that stands outside Penn Station has been criticized as ruining the beauty of the Beaux-Arts station that sits behind it.

The lobby of the Pennsylvania Station in Baltimore

A bench in the Pennsylvania Station lobby

Pennsylvania Station stained glass ceiling

A letter box in the Pennsylvania Station in Baltimore

The waiting area in the Pennsylvania Station in Baltimore

One of the doors that lead down to the train terminals

A relief in Penn Station (Baltimore) that shows two babies/infants with fishing nets who just captured a large fish.

This ornate building is located on Fayette street between Howard and Eutaw streets

The Central Business District from Fayette and Howard Streets
The Western National Bank

The Bromo Seltzer Tower

This former bank is located on the corner of Eutaw and Fayette streets

The “Bedrock” bar is located across the street from the Abell Building on Eutaw and W. Baltimore streets
This cast-iron fronted building on 307 W. Baltimore street is located across from Hippodrome Hatters, a purveyor of mens hats since 1930

This building is located next to the cast iron building on 307 W. Baltimore street

The Abell Building located on Eutaw and W. Baltimore Streets

Another shot of the Abell Building

Another shot of the Abell Building which will be converted into housing

For a long time up until the 1960’s/1970’s, Howard and Eutaw streets were the main retail and entertainment districts of Baltimore. Filled to the brim with 3 department stores (Hutzlers, Stewart’s, and Brager-Gutman’s), 3 major theatres (the Mayfair, the Maryland (connected to Congress/Kernan Hotel) and the Hippodrome), it attracted travellers from around the country to its glories. Suburbanization and white/wealth flight pulled away its most valuable customers and the stores followed suit into the suburbs. For about 30/40 years, the stores have either layed empty or with low-end stores catering to a lower-income clientele. However, the City of Baltimore as well as the Baltimore Development Corporation and a gaggle of investors are re-investing in the area to create a revitalization similar to that of the Inner Harbor and HarborEast. They hope that pushing out the lower-end stores and rehabbing the storefronts as well as adding new buildings (condominiums, apartments, etc.) will breath new air into the area and revitalize it. However, only time will tell.

The Hotel Emerson was a hotel which was opened in 1911 and closed in 1969, was demolished two years later in 1971. The rooms which numbered 500 rooms in the early 1900’s and 450 in the 30’s and 40’s, were a luxury in Baltimore, and was considered one of the four grande dames of Baltimore: The Emerson, The Southern Hotel, The Lord Baltimore and The Belvedere. The hotel was built by Isaac Emerson, of the Bromo-Seltzer fame, who one day during a hot summer meal at the Belvedere Hotel, became too hot and preceded to remove his jacket. Instantaneously, the Maitre’d came over and told him that jackets were to be worn, annoyed by this comment, Isaac went on to build his own hotel, the Emerson. He also built the Bromo-Seltzer tower as well as the Emersonian Apartments on Reservoir Hill. The Emerson was destroyed in a move that would dismay even the most voracious developers, and was considered for usage only as senior housing, as today, such a building would be protected and bogged down by bureaucracy instead of its hasty destruction.

All images are clickable and route to my Flickr storage site, where they can be viewed at larger sizes